Umbrella
by Ysabet
Summary: Just a small story regarding bad weather and worse timing.  Achoo!  Bless you, Heijikun.  Here, have a tissue...


_Wrote this a little while back for somebody and forgot to post it here; just a short, silly little Heiji/Kid fic... enjoy!  
_

_**Umbrella**_

If it hadn't been raining cats and dogs it wouldn't have been so bad, really, Heiji told himself as he huddled deeper into his jacket. Really it wouldn't have. Not that this _helped_ much, since it was raining hard and the wind had a nasty slant to it, the kind that drove the downpour right in through the gap at your collar and bit through to the skin.

And he'd been late to the goddamn Kid heist, too. Shitty night, all in all.

The Kid's note had been delivered via a box of chocolates straight to Inspector Nakamori's office; actually, it had been _inside_ one of the chocolates, or so he had heard. The riddle had been moderately interesting, and he and Kudo had trashed it out between them over the phone, going through a half-dozen cups of coffee and four whole boxes of Men's Pocky on his side of the line and planning to meet up at the heist location and—

--only it hadn't worked out like that, had it? Kudo'd come down with a horrible cold, his Ran-neechan'd ended up with bronchitis, and Kazuha'd stayed back at their place to look after them both; so much for their visit. It sounded like World War III back at the Mouris' right now, complete with gunfire and the moans of the dying. And so Heiji'd been late heading out and now _HE_ was sneezing too, felt like utter crap, and the heist was all over before he even arrived.

It was really sucky, realizing that a wanted criminal had a better sense of punctuality than you did.

'Shit happens'. That was how the saying went; and shit had indeed happened. It was a pity, though, that the aforementioned shit hadn't at least supplied him with an umbrella if it had to happen in the rain. He had _promised_ Kazuha he wouldn't go out without one after she had caught him blowing his nose. Man, if she found out he was out in this weather she'd rip him a new one, wouldn't she?

The Osakajin glanced around at the milling crowds, the police-cars and barricades; 1412 had come and gone before he had even arrived, snatching a flawless five-karat aquamarine from beneath its owner's nose in his usual goddamn flashy way, and now there was nothing left but the aftermath (i.e., Nakamori's fearsome cursing and a hell of a lot of paperwork). _Oh well, _he sighed, and turned to leave—

"—Oh!"

_Nice eyes, _was Heiji's first impression as he grabbed an arm and jacket, quickly followed by _Think I just groped her by accident, oops._ The young woman that he had smacked into hard was heavier than she looked, and if he hadn't grabbed at her she would have gone right over onto the rain-puddled asphalt. An electric-blue umbrella shook its load of rain all over them both as it flailed sideways. "Oh, thank you! I'm so sorry—"

"Na, na, my fault—" and the weather wasn't helping, picking that moment to pour itself down even harder on them both. The two huddled beneath the blue umbrella and steadied each other, and against the thunder of rain Hattori Heiji again got a good look at curly brown hair and long-lashed dark eyes peering out watchfully from a pink-cheeked face. "You okay, ojou-han?"

"Fine," she murmured; _yeah, pretty little thing,_ thought Heiji, taking in her matching blue coat and the short skirt beneath it; nice legs too, and not shy about showing them off. Come to think of it, from the way she was looking up at him, 'shy' wasn't part of the ojou-han's personality at all; and in the back of his mind (not all that far back, either) Heiji wondered how Kazuha'd look in a skirt that short. "But you're all wet—"

"Eh; forgot my umbrella." He gave the pretty ojou-han a lopsided grin and sneezed. "'Scuse me. Guess I'm catching a cold." He glanced at the crowds still milling about despite the downpour. "You here to see the heist?"

"Mmhm." Still eyeing him with concern, the young woman tilted her head; she looked about his age, he supposed, and the Osakajin wondered if she went to Kudo's old school. "Out without an umbrella and with a cold… don't you have someone to look after you?"

He sneezed again. "Oh… yeah, sorta, and if she finds out I'm out like this, she'll—"

"Heiji?"

_Speak of the devil,_ his mind gabbled frantically; and there she was, soggy in her tan rain-coat, umbrella up against the downpour and with _his_ umbrella clutched in her other hand only half a dozen meters away-- Kazuha was peering through the crowd, obviously looking for him and from the expression on her face she was planning on inserting that umbrella in a place not usually reserved for bad-weather gear. "—she'll kill me. If I'm lucky, that is," he finished his sentence mournfully, and hunched down again in his jacket. The ponytailed girl was checking through the crowd methodically; it was only a matter of time before she spotted him, and then he was DEAD.

The young woman followed his gaze, and comprehension flickered across that expressive face, making it even prettier than before. "Ooohh… I take it you'd prefer that she doesn't find you out in the rain?"

"…yeah." He sneezed again. "It'll be a lot harder for her to beat the crap out of me if I'm wrapped up in a blanket and looking miserable."

The girl frowned; they were only a few inches apart beneath the blue umbrella, and Heiji could see his own reflection in her black eyes with unusual clarity; he wondered if she were wearing contacts. The pretty face turned towards Kazuha's searching figure (closer now, dammit), regarding the situation thoughtfully. "Well, then… I _do_ owe you for saving me from falling, don't I? Let's see if I can't give her a good reason to look for you somewhere else—"

And before he could blink, the hand that wasn't holding the umbrella slid up above his collar and behind his hair, pulling his head down and—

_Mmphgl?? Bwaah? Mmmmm…_

She… was a good kisser. Warm lips, unexpectedly insistent against his own as he responded instinctively; warm breath, too, and the delicate brush of a tongue-tip. He tasted coffee faintly, breathed it in as her fingers slid lower to clasp his collar, sliding down further across shirt-front and jacket. The nylon of her umbrella brushed wetly against his hair as it lowered and in the vague, buzzing background of Heiji's mind a tiny voice observed that probably all Kazuha'd see would be an anonymous couple kissing in the rain...

When they broke apart, he heard her whisper: "I think she's gone now," and he had to reboot his brain to figure out just who the ojou-han had been talking about. _Wha? She who? Oh, right—_

She laughed softly. The black eyes were merry beneath her blush, and she reached a long-fingered, gloved hand up to adjust his collar; one palm trailed delicately down his coat, brushing away moisture. Heiji felt unaccountably warm and shivered in reaction.

A car pulled up behind them, splashing puddles along the sidewalk, and Heiji turned his head slightly to see the silhouette of an older man through one rain-spattered window; his companion waved at the car and then turned back to him, leaning close conspiratorially. "That's my uncle; I have to go… You know, though, maybe you should keep my umbrella," she suggested, closing his fingers around the handle with her own. "So your cold won't get worse, of course… and so your girlfriend won't recognize you. She won't be looking for a guy with a blue umbrella if she's carrying yours around with you, will she?"

"—but—"

Behind her the door to the car opened and a gruff voice called out something indistinguishable; the ojou-han glanced behind her and waved again, a just-a-moment wave. "Here," she said quickly, pulling a scrap of paper out of one pocket and scribbling something fast and involved down with a pen that seemed to appear out of nowhere. "You can return it to me later." A gloved hand tucked the note into his coat pocket as Heiji sputtered.

"—but—"

Wickedness twinkled in her dark eyes as she leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek before he could say another word "Take care of yourself, won't you? And take something for that cold. Bye." She turned away—

--and was gone, just like that, in a splash of tires and tail-lights, leaving him to brush fingers against his lips and stare through the rain after her.

* * *

It wasn't until that evening that Heiji remembered the note; he was curled up in a heap of quilts, pillows and used tissues, thermometer in his mouth and a mug of hot tea nearby, and he reached a hand out to snag his jacket from the end of his bed. Paper crinkled as he tugged at the pocket, and from the other room he could hear Conan coughing, could hear Kazuha's soft offer of tissues and his sniffling reply. 

The note seemed to be written on a bit of envelope; droplet-spotted, it was a little blurred, and at first he thought that it had to be either the smearing (or maybe the cold-medications) that made him see what he was seeing.

But it wasn't.

'_Thanks for making my post-heist walkthrough a lot more interesting than usual, Tantei-han. See you next time—and check your other pocket.'_

There was no signature. But then, there didn't need to be one, did there? Rereading it again, he slowly reached his free hand towards the other coat pocket. And, staring at the hastily-scribbled Kaitou Kid caricature below the note, it was no surprise to feel his fingertips brush against what he was fairly sure would prove to be a rather large gemstone…

"Well, hell," he muttered, closing his hand around the returned heist and allowing his head to fall back onto the pillow. This was going to be _SO_ much #$!!ing fun to explain to the authorities later. Despite himself, he started to snicker, sneezing once around a laugh. Goddamn Kid…

The aquamarine glittered at him as he held it up to the light, and he sneezed again. "Heiji? Do you need more cough syrup?" asked Kazuha from the doorway, her bathrobe thrown over her shoulders. She came a little closer, and a cool hand brushed against his forehead. "You're still running a fever. If you hadn't been stupid enough to go out in the rain—"

"Yeah, yeah…" She was still more than a little annoyed over that. "Kazuha? Could you get me the phone? And my wallet? I need to call a guy about a case. And if the Shrimp's awake, can you see if he feels good enough to get up? Got something he'd like to see." He was pretty sure he had Inspector Nakamori's number in his wallet somewhere… Kazuha frowned, but nodded and slipped out of the room, footsteps quietly tapping towards the Mouris' living room.

He opened his hand again and stared at the shining gem; it winked back at him, brilliant as a pair of dark eyes in the rain. _When Kudo finds out he missed this, he'll kill me. When I tell Kazuha how I got this, __she'll __kill me. But if I leave either one of them out of this, they'll kill me **twice**._

He looked at the note again, rubbing at his eyes. As much as it went against the grain with him to tamper with evidence—

(and Heiji very, very carefully tore the lowest edge of the note off, crumpling it up and stuffing it beneath his pillow)

--there was No Freaking Way anybody was seeing it in the original. Not the whole note. Oh no, NO way in hell…

He accepted the phone from Kazuha, thumbed through his wallet, and at her inquiring look sneezed once and held up the gemstone for her to take. Her jaw dropped, and he dialed. "Moshi moshi-- Yeah, Nakamori Ginzo's office, please; this is Hattori Heiji, we—right, that Hattori's son. Yeah. It's about the recent Kid heist—" Kazuha sank down onto the edge of the bed, the glittering bauble shining from between her fingers. "—yeah, I'll hold…"

And as he watched the light of his bedroom lamp play off the facets of the gem in his friend's hand (and off of Kudo's bleary, widening eyes as he peered around the doorjamb in his feety pyjamas), Heiji unconsciously brushed a fingertip across his lips, remembering a touch in the rain, a hand on his collar, a twinkle of dark, wicked eyes. And considered what had been written on the bottom edge of the note, on the strip that he had so carefully torn off:

'_P.S.: You've got one lucky girlfriend. Be sure you make sure she knows it, okay? It's not everybody who'd come looking for you in the rain.'_

"Heiji?" Kazuha was holding out the stolen jewel towards him; it flashed like a raindrop in her palm. "Don't you want this back?" Her eyes were wide and unguarded, easily as pretty as the other ones lingering in his thoughts, and he smiled a little wryly back, shifting the phone to one side.

"Nah; you keep it safe for me 'til I turn it in, okay? And 'Zuha? Thanks."

She blinked. "What for?"

"……nothing. Never mind." The phone beeped at him, a sneezing Kudo crawled up onto the bed to sit beside Kazuha, Nakamori's gruff voice barked into his ear, and Hattori Heiji reluctantly dragged his thoughts away from wondering how it would feel to kiss his childhood friend beneath an umbrella in the rain.

* * *

And elsewhere… 

"Aaaaa_choooo!!!"_ Sniffle.

"What's wrong, Kaito-kun?"

Sniffle, sniffle. "Think I've caught a cold. Aaaa_CHOO!!"_

"Baka. That'll teach you to go out in this weather to cheer for the Kid. What happened to your umbrella, anyway?"

"I lent it to somebody who needed it more than I did. No problem, though—" (sneeze, sniffle) "—I'll get it back; I'm sure we'll run into each other again sooner or later…"

_  
Owari._


End file.
